2nd sanity check ordered for suspect in Salem murder

February 8, 2014

LISBON - Mason M. Feisel, the man accused of strangling his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Samantha Shasteen in her Salem home last June, will have yet another mental evaluation.

In Columbiana County Common Pleas Court on Friday, Judge C. Ashley Pike approved a motion by co-counsel defense attorney Kelly Linger, requesting a second sanity evaluation. The second evaluation will reportedly cost $2,500.

Pike read parts of the first evaluations noting Feisel has been found to have the ability to understand legal proceedings and the ability to assist in his own defense. Additionally, Pike said the original sanity evaluation states Feisel "knew the wrongfulness of his actions."

However, the evaluation also reportedly admitted Feisel may have been showing symptoms of depression at the time the alleged crimes were committed. Salem police reported finding Feisel hiding in the bushes near a neighboring home attempting to cut his own throat and wrists with a shard of glass.

Linger said concerns that Feisel was suffering from some sort of mental defect at the time of the alleged crime have led to their request of a second sanity evaluation.

The request canceled next week's jury trial for Feisel, 35, of Boardman, who is charged with one count of murder. No new date has been scheduled yet, pending the completion of the evaluation.

Several family members of Shasteen appeared in court, wearing photos of her attached to their clothing. They stood arm in arm outside the courtroom both before and after the hearing.

Feisel is accused of strangling his long-time girlfriend on a night when others had told police she planned to end her relationship with him for the last time. Feisel and Shasteen had a daughter together, who was 4 years old at the time of the murder. Shasteen's body was discovered in the bathtub of her Oak Street home by her father, Gary Shasteen, on the morning of June 6.

Gary Shasteen also reportedly found Feisel sleeping in the home's garage with the doors down and a vehicle running. He initially fled before being located by police.